Wrong Headline

A new study shows that abstinence only education works. But I wonder if that's the right headline.

Sex education classes that focus on encouraging children to remain abstinent can persuade a significant proportion to delay sexual activity, researchers reported Monday in a landmark study that could have major implications for U.S. efforts to protect young people against unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

It could be that the regular sex ed classes are really effective at encouraging kids to be sexually active, and the benefit of abstinence only is keeping kids out of those classes.

Only about a third of sixth- and seventh-graders who completed an abstinence-focused program started having sex within the next two years, researchers found. Nearly half of the students who attended other classes, including ones that combined information about abstinence and contraception, became sexually active.

This must be really upsetting to liberals, who are determined that training kids to have sex cuts down on their interest in sex. I think I know where they get the idea - this is how it works when they teach regular subjects like history or math - they have a very high rate of killing all future interest in the topics. Sex is different, however.

"I think we've written off abstinence-only education without looking closely at the nature of the evidence," said John B. Jemmott III, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who led the federally funded study. "Our study shows this could be one approach that could be used."

Oh, how vehement they've been through the years, guffawing over the ludicrousness of even considering that encouraging kids to abstain from sex might be more effective than showing them how to properly stretch a condom over a cucumber!

The Obama administration eliminated more than $170 million in annual federal funding targeted at abstinence programs after a series of reports concluded that the approach was ineffective. Instead, the White House is launching a $114 million pregnancy prevention initiative that will fund only programs that have been shown scientifically to work -- a program the administration on Monday proposed expanding to $183 million.

Why are liberals so married to the idea that teaching responsible adult behavior to young adults can't possibly work? Hard to say - but it's safe to assume they won't be changing their tune.

"There is no data in this study to support the 'abstain until marriage' programs, which research proved ineffective during the Bush administration," said James Wagoner, president of Advocates for Youth.
But abstinence supporters disputed that, saying that the new program is equivalent to many other well-designed abstinence curricula that are thorough, tailor their messages to students' ages and provide detailed information.